Property Record
125 E STATE ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | FIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH |
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| Other Name: | THE CATHE |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 221282 |
| Location (Address): | 125 E STATE ST |
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| County: | Racine |
| City: | Burlington |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
| Town: | |
| Range: | |
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| Year Built: | 1904 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 2011 |
| Historic Use: | church |
| Architectural Style: | Early Gothic Revival |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | N |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Kane Street Historic District |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 7/25/2014 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 11/22/2013 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | By 1837, Methodist residents of Burlington were served by visiting pastors on several early circuits, including the Aztalan Methodist Circuit in 1837, Honey Creek Circuit in 1838, Walworth Circuit in 1839, and finally the Rock River Conference in 1840, which served Burlington and nearby Rochester exclusively. In 1858, many of the city’s Methodists joined with Baptists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and Unitarians to form Plymouth Congregational Church. During the late 1860s, a group of German speaking Methodists began organizing and holding services in a non-extant building at the corner of Milwaukee Avenue and Johnson Street. In 1873, the German Methodist Church was constructed at the corner of Washington Street and Perkins Boulevard, and a small parsonage soon thereafter. By 1924, the German Methodist Church merged with First Methodist Episcopal. The German Methodist building was sold to the Town of Burlington for use as a town hall. It and the neighboring parsonage have since been demolished. As younger generations began to prefer speaking English, services in that language were organized at the German Methodist Church in 1899. However, the English-speaking group branched off and incorporated as the Burlington Methodist Episcopal Church in 1902. Two years later, the congregation changed its name to the First Methodist Episcopal Church and started construction on a building at the corner of State Street and Perkins Boulevard at the cost of $8,000. First Methodist Episcopal Church is located at 125 E. State Street. An addition was constructed onto First Methodist Episcopal Church in 1928. An educational wing was later added. Decades later, the First Methodist Episcopal congregation constructed new facilities just outside the city in the Town of Burlington under the name Burlington United Methodist Church. Since 2005, the former First Methodist Episcopal Church has been occupied by a non-profit cultural center called the CATHE, the Center for Art, Technology, Health, and Education, which was organized in the early 2000s. The CATHE acts as a cultural center serving all generations and providing space for many activities, including small musical and theatrical performances, music and art studios, non-profit organization offices, and gymnasium uses. In an attempt to preserve historic buildings and provide a cost effective home for the organization, the CATHE purchased the former First Methodist Episcopal Church in 2005. The old parsonage was since demolished for the construction of a parking lot. |
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| Bibliographic References: | General Files. On file at the Burlington Historical Society, Burlington, Wisconsin. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |